


Childhood Rebooted

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Age Regression, Childhood, Fountain of Youth, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Honey I De-Aged The Team, Language Barrier, POV Multiple, Team, Waiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-20
Updated: 2008-08-20
Packaged: 2017-11-12 12:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth and the others have to fix the newest off-world hijinks that have affected John, Rodney, and Carson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> “Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.”  
> ― Dr. Seuss

Present Day  
o)(o)(o

Rodney tried to keep his eyes glued to his laptop screen, but the fierce gaze on the back of his neck kept bothering him, finally forcing him to act. "What?" he snapped, spinning around in his chair to glare at the one who had been staring at him. He wasn't entirely surprised to find that the one staring at him was John Sheppard.

"Have you figured out what's going on with us yet?" John asked, his voice aiming for its usual deadly quiet but falling somewhere short. He was leaning against the inner doorframe of the Astrophysicist's office, his arms crossed over his chest in a very familiar way.

"I would find something a lot sooner if certain unhelpful, spiky-haired, idiotic soldier-boys didn't keep bothering me!" Rodney yelled, throwing a pencil at him.

Unconcerned, John watched the pencil bounce harmlessly off his arm before looking back at Rodney. Before he could reply, however, Radek stuck his head into the office, "Is problem here, children?" he asked, his voice full of badly concealed laughter and annoyance.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no problem at all!" Rodney spat back, waving his arms in annoyance. "Unless you consider being unable to do a single thing because of all the INTERRUPTIONS a problem, in which case, YES, I'd say there is a BIG FRICKIN' PROBLEM!" This time he threw the entire cupful of pencils at the two, causing Radek to duck out of sight again, muttering to himself.

"I didn't interrupt you," John pointed out calmly, ignoring the rain of office supplies, "I was merely watching you quietly. You're the one who interrupted your work."

Under normal circumstances, Rodney would've had a fabulous comeback for that, but these being somewhat less than normal circumstances, he was at a loss. "Well then just shut up and let me get back to work!" was the most he could manage. Huffing angrily, he spun his chair around again, focusing once more on his laptop.

"Oka-"

"And stop staring at me, okay? God, you're worse than Jeanie! Just go AWAY!"

There was a long pause before he heard the sound of the office door slamming. Daring to look around, Rodney found that he was alone. Somehow, the absence wasn't quite as comforting as he thought it would be.

o)(o

Deciding that he had seen enough of Rodney for a while, John left the lab, giving Radek a small wave on his way out. He walked down the corridors to his room, where he looked around for something to do. There was a chance he could go find Teyla, but he was pretty sure she was in the gym right now, and he really didn’t feel like having a training session with her.

And Ronon had practically disappeared after their most recent mission. John could probably find the large man if he really, really wanted to, but he didn't want to intrude, if Ronon didn't want to see him right now.

Bypassing books, laptop, and guitar, his eyes finally fell upon his skateboard and he slowly began to grin. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror and decided that his clothes were alright for skateboarding, but his shoes would be a problem.

A few minutes later, a very barefoot John Sheppard was speeding down the halls, dodging around the other residents of the city with ease. More than a few smiles followed in his wake, and John returned them, grinning broadly.

He had just rediscovered the stair railings on one of the lesser used access routes to the control room and was seeing how many tricks he could remember when a strident voice rang out.

"John? What the hell are you doing?"

John tried to turn around, forgot he was halfway down a staircase, lost his balance, and tumbled to the bottom. He landed awkwardly on his wrist and bit down on his lip to keep from crying out.

"John!"

A second later, gentle hands were helping him to sit up again. Once he was sitting upright, he finally dared to look up into the face of his Expedition Leader.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked, a mixture of worry and annoyance in her eyes.

John just nodded. He'd bitten his tongue when he fell, and he knew from experience that talking too much would just make it hurt more.

Elizabeth gave him a serious look before frowning. "Of course, translating that nod into Sheppard-speak, I'd say that you're actually hurt and lying about it."

John tried to give her his most innocent look. "What? Why would I lie?"

Elizabeth just watched him impassively. "Uh-huh. Come on," she stood up and offered her hand to John, "let's go visit Carson."

John ignored the offered hand, managing to stand on his own without moving his wrist. He was leaning over to pick up his skateboard when he realized what Elizabeth had said. "Carson? I can visit Carson?" John smiled brightly. Next to bothering Rodney and hanging out with Teyla or Ronon, visiting Carson was the best way to spend an afternoon.

o)(o

Teyla, finished with her last training session of the afternoon, was on her way to her quarters to freshen up when she saw Elizabeth and John approaching, deep in conversation. John was carrying his - she thought the word was 'scrape-board - under one arm while his other arm seemed oddly still, pressed against his side.

"Hello John, Elizabeth," she called out politely.

"Teyla!" John's face lit up when he saw her. He quickened his pace to meet her at her doorway and Elizabeth followed suit with a bit more restraint. "Just come from the gym?" John asked, nodding towards the sticks and bag she carried.

"Yes," Teyla nodded, "I had a few lessons this afternoon."

If possible, John's grin grew even wider. "Then I'm sure there're a few people on their way to the infirmary right now." He teased.

Teyla ducked her head to hide her smile. "And where are you two going?"

"Oh, we're going to visit Carson." John informed her cheerfully. "Would you like to come?"

Teyla shook her head sadly, "Unfortunately, I have a meeting soon, and I must change before it. Please tell Carson hello for me, though."

"You bet!" John declared.

"We should hurry, too." Elizabeth prodded subtly.

"Oh, right. Bye Teyla!" John started walking again, leaving both women behind. They shared a commiserating look before Elizabeth hurried after Sheppard.

Teyla tapped the crystal beside her door and it opened, but she remained in the hall for a moment, fondly watching as Elizabeth caught up to John. Seeing the smiles that followed them, she wondered briefly if that was how she had looked, returning from the mission two days ago. Elizabeth was not a tall woman either, but she practically towered over her ten-year-old second-in-command.

o)(o)(o


	2. Chapter 2

Three Days Earlier  
o)(o)(o

"Unscheduled incoming wormhole!" Chuck called out seconds after the Gate began powering up.

By the time Elizabeth got out from behind her desk and made it to the technicians' side, the shield had been activated. A few seconds later the wormhole engaged, and Elizabeth found her eyes drawn to the laptop screen that registered IDCs.

Just as the computer registered a match to Teyla's signal, her voice blossomed over the radio.

"Atlantis, this is Teyla."

"Teyla, the shield is down and you are cleared to come through."

"Thank y- JOHN!"

Elizabeth jumped slightly at the annoyed shout that echoed through her headset, but before she could question the Athosian further, a ripple in the Wormhole drew her eye. A young boy emerged from the event horizon at a run, laughing as he came to a halt and looked around him in amazement.

Elizabeth had only a second to notice his oversized clothing and his messy black hair before Ronon ran through the gate as well, looking thoroughly annoyed. He had three tac-vests and sidearm holsters slung over his shoulder, but with his free hand he grabbed the young boy by his oversized collar.

"Hey! Teyla told you not to go through the ring until she said you could!" he growled.

Elizabeth barely registered Teyla appearing, holding hands with two other young boys, or the gate shutting down, because at that moment the first boy spoke in a voice that seemed frighteningly familiar.

"But the other lady said it was safe." The boy declared, sounding completely unrepentant. "And that was cool! Can I do it again?"

"No." The Runner quickly replied, dropping his load. The look on his face suggested that he was dangerously close to shooting the child with his stunner, so Elizabeth decided it was time to step in.

"Welcome back," she said, walking down the main steps, "I see that things didn't go exactly as planned."

Neither Teyla nor Ronon seemed to appreciate the understatement. "No, they did not," the Athosian replied.

Before Teyla could elaborate, Elizabeth felt someone pulling on her pants pocket and looked down. "Hi, I'm John Sheppard." The first boy declared, hazel eyes shining. He held out his hand, flashing a megawatt smile that Elizabeth remembered very well.

"I'm Elizabeth Weir" she replied, shaking his hand.

"Hi. Do you live here? Teyla says we live here, but I don't think we do. Is there really an ocean? Can we go swimming?" The words tumbled out of his mouth so quickly that Elizabeth was worried for a moment that he had actually traded personalities with McKay. And speaking of McKay…

Elizabeth looked up and found that Teyla was herding her two charges closer. Like John, they wore oversized Atlantis uniforms, and they appeared to be about 10 and 12 years old.

"Rodney, Carson, say hello to Elizabeth," Teyla coaxed.

"Hullo." The older one - who had to be Rodney - replied sullenly.

"Hello, mum. I'm verra pleased to meet you." Young Carson's brogue was thicker than his adult self's and, coupled with his dimples, made him completely adorable.

"I'm pleased to meet you as well," Elizabeth replied politely. She glanced at the upper level of the gate room and saw that not only were Chuck and a few other technicians watching with interest, but that Zelenka, Lorne, and the on-call doctor, Jennifer Keller, had arrived.

She saw the concern on their faces a moment before she heard Ronon's shout, and she turned to see that John had managed to activate the control pad that the Ancient Captain Helia had revealed. The console sprang upwards, almost hitting the young boy in the face. Ronon quickly grabbed John by his collar, this time lifting him completely off the ground. "Hey, I told you not to touch anything! Now change it back!"

"No!" John replied, swinging his arms and legs wildly, trying to make some connection with the Satedan. Ronon simply held him at arm's length and smirked as the child failed to land a single punch or kick.

Figuring that the Runner had things in check for the moment, Elizabeth gestured to Lorne and the others. They hustled down the main stairs and she met them at the base. "We'll need to put them in the observation room, for now." She said, keeping her voice low.

"We still have large unknown device from M84-2KG in there." Zalenka protested.

"I know. Is there any place you can put it?"

Radek thought for a moment. "Perhaps large room next to Whale lab. But I need help to move."

"Alright." Elizabeth nodded. "Major Lorne, if you could detail some men to help him-"

"Me too," Dr. Keller waved her hand. When the others turned to look at her, she blushed. "It's just, we're still understaffed, with so many people recovering from the whale sonar."

"Right. Major?"

"I'll have a squad for each of you in two minutes." He declared, his hand already reaching for his ear piece.

"And one to help you escort the boys to the observation room," Elizabeth chimed in, "Before John and Ronon kill each other."

"Yes, ma'am," Lorne grinned before tapping his earpiece, "Miller, Negley, Kemp, come in."

As Drs. Keller and Zelenka hurried from the gate room, Elizabeth finally looked back around to see how much damage had been done while she was distracted. Ronon had apparently given up on carrying John, and was now leaning against a pillar, slowly spinning his gun in his hand. Teyla was talking quietly to Carson while keeping an eye on Rodney, who was examining the console that John had clearly refused to replace.

It took her a moment longer to locate John, but when she did, she had to laugh. He was on the side staircase, jumping from step to step. Somehow, he had managed to get the other stairs to turn off their footlights, and whenever he landed on a step, it would glow brightly, making him giggle.

Elizabeth watched him play for a few moments until she felt another presence beside her. Turning her head slightly, she acknowledged Major Lorne.

"Dr. Keller's group is almost set up." He reported. "And when they're done helping her, Kemp's squad will take up guard positions. Negley's team is moving the alien device for Dr. Zelenka as we speak, and Miller's group will be here in a minute. I figure that in the time it takes us just to get the boys to the right level, the medics should be set up."

"Really?" Elizabeth quirked her eyebrow at him, "what makes you say that?"

"Well you know how excited the Colonel was to find the transporters when he was an adult, and now…" Lorne waved his hand vaguely in the direction of his giggling commander.

"Point taken," Elizabeth grinned. She heard muffled voices coming from the Major's headset and glanced at the doorway. Their escort had arrived. Ronon apparently heard them as well, as he holstered his gun and pushed himself off the wall. Teyla seemed to have Carson and Rodney in hand, so Elizabeth and Ronon both turned to face John.

To her surprise, Elizabeth saw that Major Lorne had beaten her to the stairs, and he was now talking cheerfully to a wide-eyed young John. They slowly made their way over to the rest of the group, discussing John's dream of being a pilot, from what Elizabeth could hear, and then the entire group made their way to the Observation Room.

o)(o)(o


	3. Chapter 3

o)(o)(o

"So tell me what's happened, people," Elizabeth declared, looking around the room. Keller had finished her examination of the boys, who were still in the isolation room, and she looked through her notes nervously when Elizabeth looked in her direction.

"Dr. McKay was examining the ruins," Teyla began. Elizabeth shifted her focus to the Athosian woman, who was sitting between Ronon and Lorne. "He and Dr. Beckett had taken detailed pictures of the glyphs around the rim of the ruins, but he could not interpret them without his computers back here."

Elizabeth noticed Radek make a note on his pad out of the corner of her eye, but he didn't interrupt.

"Then they progressed to the inside." Teyla continued. "They were photographing and examining the inside for a long time. Finally Colonel Sheppard said that it was almost time to go. He left Ronon and I around the perimeter, which had been quiet, and he went to… hurry them along."

Elizabeth could just imagine the Colonel's idea of "hurrying" and she smiled at Teyla's delicate phrasing. "And that's when it happened?" she questioned.

"I am unsure what happened," Teyla replied honestly. "One moment I heard them arguing, and then the next there was a large flash of light." Elizabeth noted that Radek and Lorne both seemed interested in that tidbit. "When we could see again, Ronon and I ran towards the ruins. We found the three boys, each accusing the other of bringing them there."

"We took the guns and stuff," Ronon interrupted, and Elizabeth remembered him coming through the gate piled with vests and holsters. "so they wouldn't hurt themselves."

"Yes," Teyla continued. "And we decided it would be prudent to bring them straight back to Atlantis."

"Did there appear to be any changes in the ruins at that time?" Radek asked quickly.

Teyla paused a moment, thinking. "I am unsure." She finally replied. "Colonel Sheppard did the initial walk-through, while I covered our retreat and Ronon scouted ahead. I did not notice anything _unusual_ in the course of collecting the boys, however. Only the ruins."

"Thank you," Elizabeth nodded. "Dr. Keller, what do we know?"

"Well," she began, "there seem to be two different issues at play." She paused, looking through her notes again.

Elizabeth frowned. "Please explain."

"Well, when interviewing the boys, they each appeared to be children. Moreover, they each have distinct memories of where they were before they woke up here. Rodney was on a bus, on his way to college, and fell asleep."

"I'm sorry doc, on his way to _college?_ Lorne interrupted. "He's like, thirteen!"

"Twelve," she corrected timidly.

Elizabeth stepped in. "Rodney graduated from high school at the age of twelve, Major." She informed him. Then, unable to resist the jibe, she added, "hasn't he told you that he's a genius?" Lorne grimaced at the familiar comment, and subsided. Elizabeth noticed Radek and Ronon also making faces, but she gestured at Keller to continue.

"Carson, who thinks he is ten, by the way, was driving to visit relatives elsewhere in Scotland, and apparently fell asleep in the car." She consulted her notes again. "John, also ten, was on his way to some kind of sports camp, but he seems far happier to be here instead."

"So we are dealing with children," Elizabeth clarified, her mind beginning to spin with the ramifications.

"Well, yes and no," Keller hesitated. "Their conscious thoughts seem to be those of the children that they were long ago. And their bodies are the bodies of children. However, they aren't actually children."

"How so?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, for one, Rodney currently has the activated ATA gene courtesy of Dr. Beckett's formula, which would not have been present in the actual child. John also has some scaring that he can't explain, but which fits injuries acquired as an adult that are listed in his files. Also, their brain scans indicate brain activity consistent with an adult, rather than activity consistent with a child. And their skulls have completely fused, as would be expected in adults their age, while children of ten or twelve would have a still forming cranium."

"So we're not thinking that this machine actually traveled to the past and scooped them out of their lives, then," Lorne asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "It simply affected the bodies and minds that were actually there."

"Um, yes." Keller replied.

"Okay, I feel less like we're stuck in a bad eighties movie, then," he muttered.

Elizabeth bit back a laugh at the comment, and then returned to the task at hand. "So we are positing that this device, whatever it is, took their physical bodies and basically shrunk them, while sending their minds back into their own memories. We are saying that, to the best of our knowledge, the adult mind and memories are still in there somewhere, and that no time travel occurred?"

Lorne snorted quietly, but Keller immediately replied "Yes."

"Good. This is progress," Elizabeth allowed a small smile. "So, Radek, perhaps you can refresh our memory on what they were looking for?"

"Uh, yes," he shuffled through his own notes. "Initial MALP report showed ruins a little way from the gate. Most runes were out of focus or covered, but some were visible. When linguist translated, she found reference to healing, childbirth, and possibly reverse aging. This last set of runes was much remarked upon. There is speculation that this device could be like sarcophagus from Goa'uld, which evidence suggests was flawed version of Ancient healing device. Linguist believes that M73-4T2 device could be Ancient healing machine like one flawed sarcophagus was based on."

"Thank you," Elizabeth nodded. "And that was why Dr. Beckett was accompanying Dr. McKay in inspecting the ruins. Well, I think now we can safely say that the 'reverse aging' rune wasn't exactly what we thought it was."

Ronon and Lorne snorted again, and Keller shook her head.

"So how do we proceed from here?"

"There's a chance – a small chance – that the boys can regain their adult memories," Keller volunteered.

"We need to examine photographs taken by Rodney for better translation" Radek replied almost simultaneously.

"Good." Elizabeth noted those on her pad. "Both of you get whatever personnel you need to pursue both of those angles. Now, Dr. Keller, do the boys need to stay in isolation?"

She shook her head. "From everything we can see, this isn't a contagious issue. Their bodies have been changed, but not by a virus or bacteria that we can detect. We've also checked for nanites and similar technology, but there are no traces. I can't tell you how they were changed, but I'm fairly confident that it won't happen to anyone else unless they go to M73-4T2 and reactivate that device."

"Alright then. You may release the boys at your discretion, Doctor." Keller nodded. "Major, if you will continue to provide escorts, just in case?” Lorne nodded too. “Anything else?" she looked around the circle. When no one moved, Elizabeth grabbed her pad. "Then let's get to work."

o)(o)(o


	4. Chapter 4

Present Day  
o)(o)(o

"So what's the bad news?" Dr. Weir asked when Jennifer had finished examining John's wrist.

"It's just a few scrapes and a mild sprain," Jennifer explained, pulling out a bandage roll. She began to gently wrap the young boy's wrist, amused by his stoic frown. "Carson?" she called, knowing that the other boy would be nearby.

"Yes'm?" he immediately replied, popping around the curtain.

"When I'm done here, could you please show John here the stash in my cubby?"

Carson's smile brightened immediately. "Yes'm!"

Finishing the wrap, Jennifer gently patted John's hand. "Why don't you go with Carson?" she suggested teasingly. Both boys immediately ran off, chatting cheerfully.

Noticing Dr. Weir's questioning look, Jennifer blushed and explained, "I have a bag of lollipops in there."

Dr. Weir's face broke into a large smile as well, and she quietly asked, "so how are things going here?"

"Oh, just fine! Carson – he told me to call him that, instead of Dr. Beckett – he's been keeping to the infirmary mostly. He's very interested in becoming a doctor, he told me, and he was so pleased when he read his file and discovered that he was one. He likes poking around and asking questions, and of course all the nurses and doctors think he's just adorable." Where young John was cocky and into everything, young Carson was polite and sweet, and his strong accent was simply charming.

Dr. Weir smiled at that, but a moment later she became pensive. “But he's keeping mostly out of the way?" she asked. "He's not causing any problems?"

"Oh, no!" Jennifer hurried to reassure. "He's just fine."

"Good, good." 

"Hey Elizabeth, can I hang out with Carson for a little while?" John asked, bounding back behind the curtain.

"If Dr. Keller says it's alright," she replied, hiding a chuckle.

"As long as you don't touch anything Carson doesn't recognize," Jennifer allowed.

"Sweet!" John disappeared again, and both women heard boyish laughter from across the room.

"Where are you heading now?" Jenifer asked.

"Well, with these two occupied, I'm going to go check on Rodney and Radek," Dr. Weir replied, smiling wryly.

"Good luck!" Jennifer had already heard from more than one person in the commissary that child Rodney was more like adult Rodney than anyone had hoped.

o)(o

Elizabeth poked her head into the scientist's lab and discovered Radek and Dr. Suzukimi pouring over pictures spread all over the table. Interested, she peeked over their shoulders. The first image that caught her eye was a complete shot of the ruins, taken from a few yards away.

"Is that the whole thing?" she asked.

"Yes," Radek replied absently.

"It doesn't look much like ruins of a former building, does it?" Elizabeth asked tentatively.

Dr. Suzukimi replied quickly, "No it doesn't. More like a two foot high ring around some kind of floor plate."

"Yes.” Elizabeth frowned. “I thought the MALP indicated ruins?"

Suzukimi nodded understandingly. "Yeah, that's what it read, because of the wear on the upper edge of the ring, and the fact that there was a floor but no real walls, but that isn't really what it looks like when you see the real pictures."

"Huh." Elizabeth continued to stare.

Suddenly Radek looked up, as if just realizing that she was there. "Oh, Dr. Weir. Was there something you needed?"

"Yes, Radek," she smiled, "I was just coming to check on Rodney.

"Oh! He is in his office" he waved at the closed door. "He is determined he can figure this out before us."

"Really?" Elizabeth frowned. "But as a child he doesn't understand Ancient? Has he gotten his memories back?"

The scientist mumbled something in Czech. "No. But he is determined to do it. He is, as he still reminds us, a genius."

Elizabeth grinned. It seemed that even as a child Rodney was still Rodney, and was still finding ways to drive Radek crazy. "I'll just peek in on him then."

"I wouldn't, if I was you," Dr. Suzukimi piped up warningly. "He absolutely bit Colonel Sheppard's head off earlier, just for looking at him. I wouldn't risk interrupting him again."

Elizabeth grinned. "Thank you for the warning. I won't take too long, but I do want to check on him."

"Your funeral," Radek added as she walked away from their table.

Her back to them, Elizabeth allowed a small frown to creep across her face. It was practically an hourly occurrence for adult Rodney to yell at adult John, but the younger genius hadn't seemed quite so explosive in the last few days. And it was quite unusual for John to leave after that kind of admonishment, though perhaps being younger… Elizabeth began to have an inkling of why John was playing with his skateboard in the halls. It seemed that John's anger management techniques had started early.

Bracing herself, Elizabeth knocked on the office door.

"Go away Radek!" Rodney shouted.

Elizabeth heard a snort behind her, but she still opened the door enough to poke her head in. "I'm not Radek," she replied gently. "May I come in for a moment?"

Rodney visibly bit back his exasperation, and Elizabeth was pleased to note that something in his files had convinced Rodney to give her a bit of respect. Maybe once he was back to himself she could ask him what it was. "I don't want to interrupt your work for too long, but I heard that you got into a bit of a fight with John, and I wanted to check on you," she informed him.

A stream of conflicting emotions washed across his face, and Elizabeth had to hold in a smile for her correct guess. "He was bothering me, and I sent him away." Rodney replied shortly.

"I see." Elizabeth came forward to peek over his shoulder. "Which part of this puzzle are you working on?" she asked kindly.

Rodney frowned, as though considering whether or not to trust her. Finally he said. "I'm working on the mechanics of changing our bodies."

"Oh good!" Elizabeth tried to keep the right amount of enthusiasm in her tone. "I'm not sure we've got anyone really working on that."

Rodney puffed up a little bit, and Elizabeth cheered internally. "Yes, Radek and whatever her name is are working on translating those old ruins, but I don't see the point. If I can figure out the physics of the changes performed on our bodies then I can figure out a way to change them back."

"That’s an interesting angle to take," Elizabeth acknowledged. "Is that why you were fighting with John? Because he didn't like your idea?"

Rodney froze. "No. He was just staring at me."

"You don't like people staring at you?" Elizabeth asked, knowing that she was finally reaching the root of the problem.

"No!" Rodney exploded. "Jeanie does it too, and it's really, really annoying! And immature!"

"No one takes immature people seriously, do they?" Elizabeth asked gently.

Rodney snapped his mouth shut and looked at her distrustfully. Elizabeth leaned in a little bit so that their shoulders were touching slightly. To her relief, Rodney didn't pull away.

"I know you're on your way to college, and I know that it can be tough. Especially at your age. But I want you to know something. Rodney, you succeed. I know you've read your own file, so you know that. You graduate with the degrees and the honors. But there's something more important."

Rodney was looking at her skeptically, but that was better than the outright doubt of a moment earlier.

"Someday, all of that brilliance of yours is going to bring you to a place where you will meet John. And he is going to become your friend. From what I've seen over the past years, you two will be _best_ friends. You two will completely trust each other." Elizabeth paused, carefully framing her next words. "I know it's hard to believe, especially at this age, but all you have to do it be yourself, and wait. And it _will_ happen."

Elizabeth glanced down and found Rodney still, staring into space and thinking over her words. She gently pulled the files away from his hands, carefully maintaining their order, and set them aside. Rodney had something more important to think about right now. Gently ruffling his hair, she let herself out of the office.

o)(o)(o


	5. Chapter 5

o)(o)(o

Back in her office after a late lunch, Elizabeth glanced through her recent emails, hoping to find some good news about John and the others. Dr. Keller wondered if some children's clothing could be found, as they were running out of the extra petite scrubs that they had put the boys into. Elizabeth made a note to talk to Teyla about it, as the Athosians were one of their few close allies who had large numbers of children.

The next report was from Kate Heightmeyer. Introducing the boys to their own files, as well as those of the Expedition, had answered their questions about their present circumstances, but hadn't triggered the memory recall that the doctors had been hoping for. She wanted permission to proceed to the next step, which was hypnosis.

Knowing how both adult Rodney and John would react to that suggestion, Elizabeth replied to Kate to hold off on that for now. After all, they weren't sure exactly what the Ancient device had done to their minds, and she didn't want to risk interfering with its processes.

One final email came from Lorne, and declared that he had detected no security threats from the three boys. He was recommending removing their personal security details and only posting soldiers at certain vulnerable points around the city. Especially since Beckett and McKay were hardly moving from their adult domains and, after reading his own file, young Shepard had discovered that he could technically order his guard to leave him alone. And was shockingly good at escaping from them. Smiling at that, Elizabeth was about to reply with her approval when a knock on her office door interrupted.

"Come in," she called.

Radek hurried into Elizabeth's office with an excited look on his face. "We found something!" he declared.

Elizabeth quickly set aside her data pad and straitened in her seat. "Wonderful! Let's hear it." She replied.

Radek, who seemed unusually excited, declined to sit, but instead began speaking quickly. "I was working on translation of runes with Dr. Suzukimi, and she found reference to Ancestors."

He pulled a sheaf of printouts off his clipboard and handed them to her and she dutifully flipped through them. The hieroglyphs were worn, but she could make out a few familiar symbols. "What did it say about them?"

"This was a place for them." Radek promptly replied. "For the Ancestors. Where the natives did not go. Hieroglyphs are a warning to children and outsiders not to enter, for only the ancestors may step on this ground."

He got more excited as he spoke, and Elizabeth, who was used to dealing with his agitation when Rodney was around, was a bit surprised at his cheer. "Okay…" Elizabeth felt like she must still be missing something, given Radek's excitement.

"The ATA gene!" he finally exclaimed, unable to contain himself.

Elizabeth gasped lightly. Yes, that would make sense. The Ancestors were the Ancients, or those with ATA. John, Rodney and Carson had been transformed because they had ATA, while Ronon and Teyla hadn't been affected. "So you're saying that Teyla and Ronon were immune, not because they are from Pegasus, as we originally assumed, but because they don't have the ATA gene?" she clarified.

"Yes!" Radek adjusted his glasses. "We can send team _without ATA_ to M73-4T2, and they can look closer, examine, and find the truth of what happened."

Elizabeth held up one hand. "Well, that's certainly a possibility, but we don't have _proof_. I don't want to risk someone else unnecessarily." She cautioned.

"With all due respect, ma'am" Lorne interrupted, stepping into her office. "I'm sure one of my men will be willing to volunteer to test Dr. Zelenka's theory." He frowned slightly, and Elizabeth assumed he was a bit annoyed that his own ATA kept him from volunteering himself. "We can assume that, given what happened to the others, at worst case scenario they'll just turn into a child too."

"Can we assume that?" Elizabeth asked sharply, unwilling to risk more of her personnel. "What if this time it was set to child, but next time it is set to vaporize?"

"We have that!" Radek jumped in. He handed her another sheaf of papers, and Elizabeth spared a second to wonder how deep his clipboard went. "See, right there. There are references to children, and later, it talks about going back."

"The natives knew all this?" she asked, not looking at the papers yet.

"No, no. This part is in Ancient." Radek gestured at the papers.

"What?" Elizabeth quickly looked at the photos and saw, indeed, that the new set of glyphs were different from the others. Appearing to be carved on metal, instead of rock, they were symbols she easily recognized.

"Native warning is outside of ring, around edges. Ancient warning is inside, where natives would not go." Radek explained. "Two different warnings."

"Huh." Elizabeth flipped through the rest of the images, thinking quickly. "How certain are you and Dr. Suzukimi that these translations are accurate? That only someone with the ATA gene will be affected? And that a person with ATA would only be de-aged?"

Radek considered this for a moment. "Eighty, eighty-five percent sure." He finally declared.

Elizabeth considered this. She had let Col. Shepard's team go into situations with simply a blithe assurance from Rodney and a twenty-five percent probability from a dour Radek. If he was so sure, and if Lorne was correct about one of his men being willing…

"Alright, gentlemen, arrange a team to return to M73-4T2." She held up a hand to keep them from rushing off. "I want all of you at a safe distance from these markings until one volunteer proves your theory. Bring Teyla and Ronon just in case you're wrong. Proceed with _caution_ gentlemen."

"We will, Ma'am," Lorne assured her seriously.

She dismissed them from her office, and then looked back at the stack of photos. It wasn't that she didn't trust Radek or Dr. Suzukimi, but she couldn't help but want to do her own translation.

o)(o

A half an hour later, Lorne and Radek had assembled a team in the gateroom. Four soldiers, all of whom lacked the ATA gene, formed the volunteer squad, with Lorne and another four handling perimeter. "Without going anywhere near the ruins," he had reassured Elizabeth. "Teyla's going to position us well out of range."

Teyla and Ronon were also there, as well as five scientists, Radek included, who were ATA-free and had useful skills that might be needed at the site. There was also one medical doctor, ATA-free, in case their translations had been wrong, and who could do an initial examination upon someone affected.

Dr. Suzukimi watched from the balcony with Elizabeth, her chagrin at being unable to go overshadowed by her excitement for what they were going to bring back for her.

At last they were ready, and Elizabeth nodded at Chuck to begin dialing. "Good Luck, gentlemen," she called down. Lorne and Radek both nodded. "And be careful!"

o)(o

Elizabeth spent the next few hours working on the translations in her office, where she could hear the unscheduled off-world activation alarms if they came. They never did, much to her relief, and five minutes before they were scheduled to return, she found herself drifting out to Chuck's station. He grinned at her in commiseration – how often had they done this together? – and continued to work.

Right on time the wormhole activated, Major Lorne's IDC coming in almost immediately. Chuck lowered the shield, and the group trouped through. Elizabeth gratefully noted that all of them appeared to be their normal ages, and they were fairly upbeat.

"Check in with the infirmary and then report to the conference room," she reminded them. She wanted to hear their news right away, but protocol needed to be followed. Major Lorne gave her a thumbs up and then hustled his soldiers down the hall.

Elizabeth returned to her office to, once again, wait.

o)(o)(o


	6. Chapter 6

o)(o)(o

Elizabeth was hit by an amusing sense of deja vu when Radek rushed into her office as she was finally shutting down for the night.

“We found it!” He cried.

“What did you find?” Elizabeth asked tiredly. It had been a long day for all of them, and she hoped that Radek had indeed found something helpful from their second trek to M73-4T2.

“In part Rodney had not gotten to yet. Dr. Suzukimi just finished translation!” Radek thrust a sheaf of photos at her again. Elizabeth flipped through them, but her tired mind couldn’t focus on the hieroglyphs. “It is baby maker!” Zelenka declared.

“What?” Elizabeth stared at him, afraid that perhaps the doctor had also been awake too long.

Radek frowned as he sought the proper phrasing. “Uh. Couple wants to make family. Ancients want to make sure that they will be good parents. One Ancient becomes like child, to see how they react. Then child is re-aged and determines if they will be permitted to have own child!”

“It says all that?” Elizabeth asked, glancing back through the photos, but she still couldn’t concentrate on them.

“Yes! Yes!”

“So turning Colonel Shepard and the others into children, that was the purpose of the device?”

“Yes!”

“And it can presumably turn them back?”

“Yes!”

“And there’s no danger to them in the mean time?”

“Not that we have found.”

“Good.” Elizabeth put the photos down. “Then you and Dr. Suzukimi are going to bed.”

Radek opened his mouth to protest, but Elizabeth held up her hand to stop him.

“Everyone is over tired. How long have you been awake, doctor?” His guilty flush told her all she needed to know. “You and Dr. Suzukimi go to bed. The boys are in no danger, so this can wait until tomorrow morning, and I don’t mean in…” she glanced at her watch, “three minutes, but _tomorrow_ , when we’re all rested. I’ll schedule a meeting first thing, in the morning, so you can tell us everything, but for now we all need sleep, alright?”

Radek sighed with defeat. “You are right. This is not emergency; it can wait until morning.” He turned to go.

“Thank you for letting me know right away, though,” Elizabeth called after him. “I’ll sleep better knowing that we’ve found the answer, even if I won’t be coherent enough to understand it until tomorrow.”

They shared a smile for the truth of that, and then the scientist swiftly left her office. Elizabeth finished powering down her computer and made her way to her own bed.

o)(o

“Let me get this straight, Doc,” Lorne asked as soon as Dr. Suzukimi was finished with her explanation. “You’re saying that these Ancients basically needed permission to have a kid? And they used this machine to make sure they could handle it?”

“It doesn’t sound like a completely horrible idea,” Keller spoke up as Suzukimi nodded. “Not everyone’s cut out to be a parent.”

“Be that as it may,” Elizabeth tried to head off the ethical debate, “why did it transform our people?”

“We have theory…” Zelenka began.

“Yes?”

“The device was not activated the entire time Rodney and Dr. Beckett were working…”

“And?” Elizabeth was afraid she knew where this was going. And it wouldn’t be the first time.

Dr. Suzukimi spoke up. “We think the system was dormant, waiting to be called upon. When Colonel Sheppard walked through it during his initial investigation, of the site, as Teyla indicated, his ATA might have been strong enough to jolt the system out of hibernation like a reboot.”

“Then,” Zelenka continued, “when he returned to make Rodney leave, the system recognized his ATA as what awakened it, maybe as… as… uh, System Administrator.”

“You’re saying that Colonel Sheppard’s ATA turned the machine on, and it malfunctioned and read him as a controller…”

“When he returned, he must have had some thoughts along the lines of activation, starting, or perhaps children, and the machine interpreted this as a ‘Go’” Dr. Suzukimi finished.

“I see.” Teyla, Ronon, and Elizabeth were all smiling, well aware of why thoughts of children would have popped into John’s mind while dealing with Rodney.

“This is good news, though,” Radek insisted.

“Oh?”

“Yes, if machine views Colonel Sheppard as Administrator, and his thoughts triggered the change…”

“Then he just has to go back and demand that it change them back!” Elizabeth concluded.

“Uh, yes.”

“That is wonderful news.” Teyla said, smiling.

“Do we have any way to test this?” Elizabeth asked cautiously.

“No,” Suzukimi quickly replied, “but we do have some evidence that it will work. There is a section of glyphs that seems to be giving instructions for repair.” She quickly flipped to the correct slide. “This part mentions a ‘memory bank’ for lack of a better word. Essentially, a place where the user’s exact being is stored, like a bookmark, tied to their DNA and ATA.”

“Okay…” Elizabeth didn’t quite see what she was getting at.

“So when they step back into the space, it will read their unique DNA and ATA patterns and reunite them with their original bookmark. Because of this, we’re relatively certain that they won’t de-age any more, and that they can in fact be brought back.”

“Is there some kind of time frame associated with this ‘bookmark,’ Docs?” Lorne asked.

“What do you mean?” Radek seemed confused.

“I mean, do they have to remain children for a set amount of time?” the major clarified.

Radek frowned. “Oh, uh, no. Not that we’ve found.”

“So theoretically we could have taken them back to M73-4T2 twenty minutes later and they would have become adults again?”

“As far as we can tell, yes,” Suzukimi replied.

“Good to know,” Ronon muttered.

“Now, all of this information was in the section that Rodney and Dr. Beckett hadn’t photographed, correct?” Elizabeth asked, trying to head off another argument. “This is all from yesterday’s return visit?”

“Yes,” Radek replied a bit defensively. “Rodney had not seen this.”

Elizabeth smiled comfortingly at him. “Alright, so now we just need a plan. Do we just take the boys back and dump them there?”

“Sounds good to me,” Ronon growled.

“There might be a small problem with that.” Keller spoke up.

“John,” Elizabeth confirmed.

“He’s having fun.” Keller continued. “I’m not sure he’ll want to go back.”

“And if he is the only one who can trigger it…” Teyla realized.

“He might not cooperate.” Elizabeth finished.

“Let me talk to him,” Lorne suddenly declared, a thoughtful look on his face.

Elizabeth looked at him for a long moment before deciding. “Very well. Get together whichever people and equipment you need,” she told Radek, Suzukimi, and Keller. Turning to Teyla, she asked, “can you please get the boys ready to go?”

“They’ll need their adult clothes again too,” Keller piped up.”

“And I’ll have yesterday’s teams ready to go as well,” Lorne added.

“Alright,” Elizabeth stood. “Be ready to head out in an hour.” The others quickly trooped out of the conference room and disappeared in different directions. Elizabeth quietly watched Lorne go, wondering what he thought he could say to John to bring him back.

o)(o)(o


	7. Chapter 7

o)(o)(o

“Scheduled incoming wormhole!” Chuck declared as Elizabeth hurried out of her office. Major Lorne’s IDC appeared on the screen as planned, and Elizabeth crossed to the stairs as Chuck lowered the shield.

Two of Lorne’s men were through first, grinning widely, and followed by Dr. Suzukimi and Ronon. Seconds later, John appeared, followed immediately by Carson, Rodney, and Radek, the latter two apparently mid-argument. Elizabeth couldn’t hold in her own smile as she said clearly, “Welcome back, gentlemen.”

All three looked up, varying levels of chagrin and amusement on their faces. There was a long pause, during which Elizabeth vaguely noticed Teyla, Lorne, and the others arriving.

Finally Carson lowered his eyes and said mildly, “Hello Elizabeth.”

“You’re all under orders to report to the infirmary,” she informed them, still smiling.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rodney waved a negligent hand and returned to his argument with Radek, breaking the spell on the others. As they hurried down the hall to the infirmary, John held back.

“No exceptions, Colonel,” she warned him, teasing.

“Never crossed my mind,” he replied easily, beginning to walk. It seemed her nonchalant officer was back, replacing the eager child who had been exploring the city for the last few days.

Elizabeth fell into step with him, as she so often had over the past few years. “Good.”

After a few moments of silence, John suddenly asked, “you thought I wouldn’t want to come back?”

Elizabeth hadn’t been expecting this, and once again she wondered exactly what Lorne had told him. “You seemed to be having fun,” she offered.

“And I had a chance to read my file,” he added her unspoken thoughts. “I knew what bad things I was going to remember.”

“You might not have wanted to remember,” Elizabeth finally replied.

“I had a responsibility to return,” he replied easily.

Elizabeth frowned. “You came back just because of your future responsibility?”

“Nope. I came back because I protect my friends. And I had friends here.”

He smiled his lazy smile at her, and Elizabeth responded in kind before they both continued to walk down to the infirmary.

o)(o)(o


End file.
